Initial Teacher Education: Enriching and Extending Partnerships

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BUILDING CREATIVE BRIDGES: INTEGRATING SERVICE-LEARNING INTO THE INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM Hillary Inwood and Leslie Stewart-Rose Project Coordinators Hilary Inwood: instructor, Visual Arts Education, Initial Teacher Education program Leslie Stewart Rose: lecturer, Initial Teacher Education program Project Partners Steve Lashbook: music teacher, director of One World Youth Arts Project, Georges Vanier Secondary School, Toronto District School Board Barb Mathews: visual arts teacher, Lawrence Park Collegiate, Toronto District School Board Ron Royer: music teacher, University of Toronto School Sarah Shugarman: music teacher, University of Toronto School Tracy Thomson: teacher, Keele Street Junior Public School, Toronto District School Board Project Context Nine junior-intermediate teacher candidates were involved in this project. All were registered in a full-year arts specialty course in the Initial Teacher Education program, OISE. Students aged seven to 17 were involved in both school and community education settings. The ages and numbers of children varied depending on the type and site of the extracurricular program in which they were participating. ABSTRACT The “Building Bridges” project used a service-learning model to strengthen relationships between arts-based associate teachers, teacher candidates, and OISE instructors. By integrating course content with community service and critical reflection, the service-learning model enabled teacher candidates to deepen their knowledge and experience in arts education by working in extracurricular arts program across the city. The teacher-candidate placements benefited the schools through an infusion of volunteers, improved the connection between associate teachers and the Initial Teacher Education program, and improved teacher candidates’ professional experience in arts education. Service-learning has helped to build broader and deeper connections between teacher candidates, partner schools and ourselves—and should be further explored in the Initial Teacher Education program at OISE in future. OBJECTIVES • To implement a service-learning model—meaningful community service with instruction and reflection—in the Initial Teacher Education program, OISE • To deepen teacher candidates’ understanding of curriculum, pedagogy, and civic responsibility through service-learning • To strengthen relationships with arts-based teachers, in order to better utilize their expertise in the Initial Teacher Education program at OISE Service-learning, a relatively recent addition to university courses in Canada, combines community service, course material, and reflection (Taylor, 2002). Students are offered a unique means of learning that enables them to apply course content in practical ways through community-based service. Due to the growing popularity of service-learning at the University of Toronto, the Centre for Community Partnerships was established in 2006 to actively encourage faculty to incorporate service-learning into their courses. This research project was designed to do just that—to explore the implications of service-learning in the context of arts-based courses in the Initial Teacher Education program at OISE. 8 | Initial Teacher Education
Many Canadian universities have long histories of volunteerism, but few have incorporated service-learning into their formal curricula. Service-learning has a longer history in the United States, where it was included in the curricula of some American colleges as early as the 1930s (Taylor & Ballangee-Morris, 2004). According to California State University, “service-learning is a teaching method that promotes student learning through active participation in meaningful and planned service experiences in the community that are directly related to course content” (cited in Jeffers, 2005, p. 29). Beginning in September 2006, this inquiry investigated the suitability of using the service-learning model for arts courses in the Initial Teacher Education program at OISE. And because it was a continuation of our school-university research project of 2005–06, it allowed us to continue to build relationships with arts-based teachers in partner schools. Our assumption was that the service-learning model would provide a valuable way to develop and strengthen these relationships, and in turn would improve the arts-based learning experiences of teacher candidates. Our aim was to place teacher candidates in extracurricular arts programs in partner schools or community centres so that they would learn from experienced arts teachers over an extended period of time. While teacher candidates would benefit from this hands-on experience, the teachers and students in the partner schools would benefit from an infusion of artistic skills, energy, and enthusiasm that teacher candidates could bring to their extracurricular art programs. STAGES OF THE PROJECT Building bridges between teachers and teacher candidates We began to identify associate teachers, working in extracurricular arts programs, who might participate in this project: five teachers joined the study as teacher collaborators, and three additional schools and two community centres provided access to their programs. When teacher candidates arrived on campus in September, we invited them to participate in the study, and ten volunteered. We assigned teacher candidates to work with particular arts teachers according to their interest in the art program’s theme, and the suitability of its location or scheduling. At this stage, the teacher candidates and the teacher collaborators completed a pre-program questionnaire. Service-learning is different from the practicum experience that teacher candidates experience as part of their teacher education program. While practice teaching is on-the-job training, service-learning emphasizes the development of civic responsibility in the context of becoming a reflective educator. Teacher candidates are encouraged to consider how they can engage with their school communities, outside their regular classroom duties, as a means of developing relationships and sharing expertise needed to deal with community challenges. From this point of view, service-learning is an example of the emphasis placed on issues around equity, diversity, and social justice in the OISE Initial Teacher Education program. Building bridges with students, schools, and community centres In October, the teacher candidates headed out to help run a wide variety of extracurricular arts programs in partner schools. Some went to inner-city schools or community centres, others to private schools. They were required to work for a minimum of six weeks, but some—highly engaged with their placements—volunteered to stay longer. They worked on a diversity of projects: a mural for St. Michael’s hospital, a clay club run by secondary students, the One World music program at a public high school. They worked alongside the collaborating teachers, built relationships with students, and became integral members of the clubs in which they were involved. After their involvement ended, they wrote reflections on their experience and completed a final questionnaire. Building bridges with the Initial Teacher Education program on campus We invited our teacher collaborators to join us on campus for the OISE annual elementary arts conference in January 2007. Having been asked to lead experiential arts workshops for generalist teacher candidates, they shared their expertise in the visual arts, music, literacy, and dance. This was also an opportunity for them to learn firsthand about the Initial Teacher Education program and to meet with other arts instructors in the program. In the spring they returned to campus to participate in focus group interviews that had been designed to solicit their Enriching and Extending Partnerships | 9
Page 1 and 2: INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION Enriching
Page 3 and 4: EDITORIAL Carol Rolheiser Editorial
Page 5 and 6: • Conducting action research •
Page 7 and 8: Social Justice in Catholic Educatio
Page 9: CONTRIBUTORS Meredith Lordan (p. 35
Page 13 and 14: and social justice “inspiring and
Page 15 and 16: A PARTNERSHIP OF REFLECTIVE PRACTIT
Page 17 and 18: preparation for the lesson design,
Page 19 and 20: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION
Page 21 and 22: interviews, and they analyze childr
Page 23 and 24: inquiry and critical multicultural
Page 25 and 26: Critical inquiry is ongoing, non-li
Page 27 and 28: In addition to examining effective
Page 29 and 30: The paradigm shift in the learning
Page 31 and 32: For a copy of this publication, ple
Page 33 and 34: STAGES OF THE PROJECT Planning for
Page 35 and 36: IMPACT This project had impact on s
Page 37 and 38: FROM RISK TO RELIEF: ADVOCATING FOR
Page 39 and 40: comments, both positive and negativ
Page 41 and 42: surrounding classroom management, i
Page 43 and 44: INDUCTEES AS MENTORS: MEN WHO CHOOS
Page 45 and 46: Deepening the research Teacher cand
Page 47: This can happen both formally and i
Page 50 and 51: associate teacher and teacher candi
Page 52 and 53: in a truly collaborative and recipr
Page 54: To purchase a copy of this publicat

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